Sorry to sound hectic but I have a portfolio screening in 3 hours and I'm bugging out!

My dvd plays fine on my mac using dvd player app. The menu button highlights and I can choose different options.

I tested it out on two different real dvd players linked to a tv. On the tv I noticed theres no button highlights and I cant push up or down to choose different options. All I can do is press the play button and have it default to playing the first thing.

I don't know why this is happening! But I want to solve the problem as soon as possible.

I used a tutorial from Andrew from Video Copolilot. It was his Recon Man DVD Authoring tutorial.

There was a major issue with Button Highlights and an earlier OS. For a while, there was even a sticky warning message at the top of the forum's main page. I do not recall the exact problems, the OS's involved, or the solutions. A Search of this forum should yield posts on that issue. I do not know if it's the your particular problem, or not.

Good luck, and maybe someone will know the exact details of those posts,

Take a quick look at your Edit in PS thread. I outlined what happens with Edit in PS, and one glitch that has shown up for some, from time to time. I seem to have found a "cure," when it does show up, and only hope that that, or a glitch in your Edit in PS workflow.

I'm not up on my Mac OS version numbers, but that sounds very recent. In those older threads, they were talking about an OS deemed "Tiger," IIRC. That was replaced by what, Leopard, and then Snow Leopard (which had some major issues with Adobe software too, but I forget what they were)?

I'm having a similar issue with Encore CS4, on Snow Leopard (2008 MacBookPro). I've authored a DVD with a short first-run video. Then it goes to the Main Menu - and there are 4 submenus with 3 additional chapters each that I created using the create Chapter Index feature. It plays perfected on the DVD player in the OS, as well as in the preview.

When I hit a real DVD player and you get to the menu, any buttons you press on the remote show the symbol in the top left that shows you can't do anything. I've tested this in several different DVD players thanks to friends.

Am I missing something obvious? Does there need to be another slide in there before the menu?

I basically want an underline button from Photoshop with an invisible clicking field.

The underline is a "highlight."

The "button" is the whole + group.

The "blue rectangle" and the notion of a "invisible clicking field" is created by Encore as the active area. The size of the active area is the smallest rectangle that includes all the elements in the button group.

when the mouse hovers over the active areas if has the effect as if you navigate to the button. Clicking is the same as executing the selected button.

My menu background has letters pre-rendered into them. I am planning on just adding an underline and a clicking field over them.

If I don't have an invisible clicking field, then when on a computer with a mouse, you can't click on the letters that are pre rendered into the menu background. The only way to play the video by clicking, is to aim it just right on the skinny little underline which is frustrating.

You are correct. A Button Layer Set is defined by a rectangle that encompasses 100% of that Layer Set, including the Sub-picture Highlight. These are best seen, if one is in the Encore Menu Editing Panel, and a Button is selected. There will be a Bounding Box, and THAT is the total Button. If one moves, say the Sub-picture Highlight down, or up, that Bounding Box will increase in size to encompass that aspect of the Button.

Along those lines, these Bounding Boxes CANNOT overlap, even by one pixel.

My menu background has letters pre-rendered into them. I am planning on just adding an underline and a clicking field over them.

The one issue with this is that your text is part of the background, and is NOT part of the Button. The only aspect of the Button will be the Sub-picture Highlight, which will be a very small area. Check out its Bounding Box in Encore's Menu Editing Panel. The way around this limitation would be to do a Shape, or Text Box, to encompass your background text, and then turn its Visibility OFF. Check this out in Encore's Menu Editing Panel, just to make sure.

One question: why do you want the text to be in the background and not part of the Button Layer Set. While easy to get around, I am just curious of your purpose.

• What I normally did was make one button in PS and then just duplicate it in Encore and go from there. This is what the video copilot tutorial went by.

This time, I made all of the buttons in PS first and then brought them into Encore.

• My underline was originally 3-4 pixels wide for the height. I thought that would be enough but I tried making it around 6 pixels and now they all show up in my preview.

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My clicking field works great and all the bottons underline on all the dvd players I tested!

But now I feel I am stuck in another rut

- I made sure to set my Encore pref to 16:9

and, I made sure my menu in the properties in the right were set to 16:9.

When I burned to dvd, it came out slightly squished. It was odd. I was viewing it on a standard tv that wasnt hd, so I thought the ends would simply get cropped. But it appeared that the width was actually altered and my character on my menu looked skinnier. I tested it out on another tv and it was the same.

I then tested it out on a hd tv. I noticed that there were black bars on the left and right and not the top and bottom. I am not certain, but rather sure I have tested it out before where I have seen black bars on the top and bottom.

Either way, even though it looks 4:3, there was STILL cropping on the end! Also, it still appeared to be squished and skinneir.

I pressed on my remote from normal view to wide view and the aspect ratio looked alot better. Although I feel I shouldn't have to do this.

I last tried on one more dvd player hook up to a regular tv that isnt hd. Oddly enough, this one the aspect ratio wasn't squished. It looked fine.

There was still cropping on the left and right, but thats because its just a regular tv. - The only thing with this is im pretty sure I've tested a dvd out on that tv with Encore and have seen black bars on the top and bottom, which I haven't seen this time.

I then popped the dvd in my mac book pro and it came up perfect.

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I know this issue is different from the button one, should I have posted it elsewhere?

I now just need everything to be 16:9 on all screens. If anything I'll settle for cropping instead of black bars, but I can't tolerate a squished aspect ratio.

The squished text is a sign that the PAR (Pixel Aspect Ratio) of the Menu does not match the Project. I always start my Menus in PS with the New Image Preset that matches, so an NTSC Widescreen Project would be 720 x 480 with a PAR = 1.2. I use the Preset with Guides, to show me my Title Safe Area, to keep everything inside, for CRT TV's, which overscan.

Back in PS, what is the PAR of your .PSD's - Image>Pixel Aspect Ratio?

Just doing an Edit in PS from Encore, correcting that PAR and doing a Save should help. My guess is that your Menu is Square Pixels, 1:1.

As for the Buttons, I always do my duplication of Button Layer Sets in PS. This also lets me go in and easily rename my Layers and my Bottoms to match the names of my Assets. Note: in the Layers, and Layer Sets, one MUST adhere to he first characters naming convention, and ONLY change the name after the space. Only change the names AFTER the space. This renaming really, really comes in handy with multiple Scene Selection Menus. Trying to remember that "Button 2" on "Menu 4" links to "Corporate Retreat 2010." Also, I do not use spaces, or extended characters in my Timeline, or Asset names, even though OS's have allowed spaces for a decade, or more. The Sonic Authorcore, that is the base of Encore, can have issues with both spaces and extended characters, as well as very long file names and Paths.

In Photoshop, go to Image>Pixel Aspect Ratio (it's down the list in the drop-down menu), and that will give you the answer. This feature was added with PS CS, IIRC. Do not think that PS 7 had it yet.

Good luck, and I hope that the PAR is the cause of the distortion. For Widescreen (16:9), it should appear as PAR = 1.2 in PS. Now, PrPro CS4.2 has made a minor change in PAR. Widescreen is now 1.212. Not sure if that has been changed to match in PS CS4.X, but will very likely be changed in PS CS5, when introduced. While mathematically correct, that slight difference should not be seen on-screen.

The 1.212 is the new, updated, and correct Pixel Aspect Ratio. Adobe had rounded it to 1.2 for Widescreen. Adobe slightly altered the Standard (4:3) PAR too. These little corrections came with CS4, so CS, CS2, CS3 will not recognize these new PAR's as being the standard. PS CS4 has been changed, IIRC.

I tried setting the PS PAR's deafaulted "custom 1.212" to the 1.20 preset. That burn did not help.

I then tried burning a disc image. The iso looks great on the computer.

When burned to disc, its squished on the tv.

I'm using sony + r discs.

My dvd players are:

- phillips

- samsung

- jvc

- magnovox

Of all the players they play squished except for the magnovox.

The magnovox player plays my dvd fine. The aspect ratio is good. The only issue is the cropping, but thats because its linked to a regular tv.

My phillips player is linked to a Sony Bravia HD tv. When the menu comes up, there is black bars on the left and right. There is half inch cropping on the left and right as well! - Odd.... it looks like my raw picture is basically converted to sd or something

Why would there be black bars and half inch cropping?

The disc on the computer looks great. Perfect 16:9, no slight cropping.

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Can it be possible that my discs are fine and it just so happens those dvd players in particular won't play the 16:9? Or is this not normal?

Has this issue happened to any one else before? I've been dealing with this problem for over 3 weeks now and am starting to loose patience. I'm considering purchasing another dvd program and starting over because Encore isn't being solved.

There are settings for how either/both the set-top player and the TV handle Widescreen. This can be a real issue, as the producer has little, to no, control over how a user might have their equipment set up.

My BD players have settings, and so do all of my TV's. It is now a real "jungle" out there. Life was pretty simple when everyone had 4:3 CRT TV's.

Can it be possible that my discs are fine and it just so happens those dvd players in particular won't play the 16:9? Or is this not normal?

With the exception of the 4:3 CRT TV, all the rest can handle 16:9, but its HOW they handle the signal, that will make a difference. Most have set up menus, that will allow you to dictate how the signals are displayed. Depending on those signals, one might need to change these settings. Also, many set-top players also have choices on how they handle and transmit the signals too.

So I'm assuming my disc's are fine and its the dvd player's set up's problem?

I'm planning on burning 60-70 copies, and I don't want to start without being sure! Do you think I should just burn as they are?

It's a shame that the dvd players don't default to the correct aspect ratio, and it has to be done manually after.

Is this whole 16:9 issue common with people?

My only concern is how on the hd tv, there was 1 inch cropping on the left and right, in which even setting it to wide will never get those parts back. The whole clipping issue actually cut a few letters out of one of my buttons.

I hate to be so annoying about this whole thread, I've never had such a long problem ever.

I don't know how all the movies in the rental stores from hollywood never come in squished and default fine... they must use dvd studio pro

It can be confusing to correctly setup and assess various dvd player/tv options. Because you do not appear to understand (yet - you will soon!) how your test options are set, it is still possible that you have a par issue. but your very squished playback does sound odd. So look at each combination: TV 4:3, only the DVD setting matters, and it should be set for the TV to be 4:3.

Users will face the same sort of issue, unless they have their set setup correctly. I label my widescreen DVDs with my website with an FAQ about this. When I started doing this, I was convinced very few purchasers had widescreen TVs; now widescreen are more prevalent, so I'd probably reword it.

When you say DVD settings, do you mean on the dvd player, or in Encore before burning?

Sorry; the DVD Player settings.

I am burning my dvd's at 16:9, so is this why it's scaling on a 4:3 tv?

While I think it is likely that there is a scaling problem, you need to know how each of your test setups is set, DVD player and TV. A 16:9 DVD, played on a DVD player configured for a 4:3 TV, should show black at the top and bottom.

It appears that instead of just cutting out the extra width of the hd aspect ratio, it squeezes the whole picture into the 4:3, so it doesn't miss anything.

Yours looks like a player set to a widescreen TV with a zoom setting or similar. But why guess?

A reply from edDV quoted, "To get it display widescreen from a DVD player, the MPeg2 needs the widescreen flag turned on during authoring."

Even thought when I brought my .m2v's back into AE and it read 1.20, I still figured I would look into them. So I right clicked on my .m2v in Encore and went to interpret footage. To my suprise - it was set to 1.0! So I changed all the .m2v's to interpret 1.20. I did a burn and - still didn't work

By the way, I'm using Mpeg 2 DVD, not Mpeg 2....what's the difference? Don't you use mpeg2? I'm considering just trying that instead if nothing else works

>I know my video files would be too large, but is there any way I could upload the Encore project files onto here?

Without the video files (and yes, they would be too large), I don't think the project helps. Posting screen shots might help. but the issue is the par of the video assets. I would use Gspot for this, but not available for Mac. (I have seen posts suggestion MediaInfo for Mac.)

>I wish it would resort to black on the top and bottom when I pop it in.

>Even for my one 4:3 tv that isn't scaled, there is still no black on the top and bottom.

I assume that it is cropping the left and right, therefore not scaling and not letterboxing. Did you ever check the DVD player settings on that combination? Without knowing the actual settings, we can't be sure you are set correctly. Because this displays correctly on your computer, an dnot on TVs, I th ink you need to rule out the DVD player setting/TV combo. I'd start with 4:3 TV you describe here.

A reply from edDV quoted, "To get it display widescreen from a DVD player, the MPeg2 needs the widescreen flag turned on during authoring."

I don't believe the poster there created his asset correctly. A correct asset (i.e. 16:9) brought into encore will be handled correctly.

Even thought when I brought my .m2v's back into AE and it read 1.20, I still figured I would look into them. So I right clicked on my .m2v in Encore and went to interpret footage. To my suprise - it was set to 1.0! So I changed all the .m2v's to interpret 1.20. I did a burn and - still didn't work

I don't know if this changed, but in CS3, the interpret footage has two options: use the asset's par or "conform to." Which one said 1.0? What did it say if the "use the asset's par" is selected?

It is indeed cropping the left and right, and not letterboxing. My ultamite goal is to have it letterbox on a 4:3 tv, and play regular 16:9 with no cropping or letterboxing on an HD tv.

I don't know if this changed, but in CS3, the interpret footage has two options: use the asset's par or "conform to." Which one said 1.0? What did it say if the "use the asset's par" is selected?

I am currently trying my project on Encore CS4 now, because I thought upping to CS4 would solve my issues. In Encore CS4 I right clicked on my .m2v and go to interpret footage. It first defaults to: "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)"

I then clicked on the option under which is "Conform to" and has a drop down menu where I switched to "SD NTSC Widescreen (1.2121)

^^^ "SD NTSC Widescreen (1.2121)" was the only option in the drop down with a 1.2 factor

Either way, conforming to the 1.2 didn't help the burn.

But can the whole "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)" be an issue? Does Encore think the .m2v is 1.0?

I am currently trying my project on Encore CS4 now, because I thought upping to CS4 would solve my issues. In Encore CS4 I right clicked on my .m2v and go to interpret footage. It first defaults to: "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)"

....

But can the whole "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)" be an issue? Does Encore think the .m2v is 1.0?

I don't know, but I wonder if a) it is 1.0 or b) CS4 sees the 1.2 and treats it as "not 1.212 and therefore 1.0" or at least not widescreen. but shouldn't the conform work?

Well I even went to my CS3 project and it was the same. I right clicked on the .m2v, went to interpret footage, and it said "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)"

I then switched all the .m2v's to 1.2

And doing the same conform thing it didn't work on CS3

Is it normal to go to interpret footage and have "Use the Asset's Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)" show up? I exported from AE for widescreen, so I don't know why it first shows up as that, unless it does for everything.

I just spent 6 hours today re- rendering new mpeg2dvd's out of AE and started a whole new Encore project file from scratch.

Ofcourse this burn did not work either.

Even though I always render out for widescreen for my .m2v's, whenever I right click on my .m2v's in Encore its defaulted to "Use the Asset's Pixels Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)". Even after switching the option to conform to 1.2 and making sure everything in Encore is 16:9, it still does not burn correctly.

With starting this new Encore project file from scratch, I noticed one thing different from the other's.

I am dealing with 5 .m2v's in my project. When I right click and go to interpret footage, they are all defaulted to "Use the Asset's Pixels Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.0)" except for one. One .m2v file in particular for some reason is defaulted to "Use the Asset's Pixels Aspect Ratio: Square Pixels (1.2121)", in the interpret footage.

Here are my screen snaps:

Four of my .m2v's - when right click, interpret footage:

One .m2v in particular - when right click, interpret footage:

Can this be the case with my problem? I rendered out every video exactly the same from one another.So, I have no idea why this one is different in the interpret footage section.

When you are working with a 16:9 project in Encore what does your interpret footage say??

If I can't figure out this issue I'll have to move to a different authoring program, because it has been a month now.